Achebe - English
Achebe - English
Achebe - English
Du Bois Institute
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ENGLISHAND
THEAFRICANWRIE
Chinua Achebe
In June I962, there was a gathering given the impressionof not knowing
at Makerere University,impressively what we were doing,or worse,not dar-
styled:"A Conferenceof AfricanWrit- ing to look too closelyat it.
ers of EnglishExpression."Despite this A Nigerian critic,Obi Wali, writing
sonorous and rather solemn title, it in Transition io said: "Perhaps the most
turnedout to be a verylivelyaffairand importantachievementof the Confer-
an exciting and useful experience for ence ... is thatAfricanliteratureas now
many of us. But there was something definedand understoodleads nowhere."
thatwe triedto do and failed:to define I am sure thatWali musthave feltvin-
"Africanliterature"satisfactorily.
Was it dicated when he saw the report of a
literatureproduced in Africa,or about subsequent conferenceheld at Fourah
Africa?Could Africanliteraturebe on Bay to discussAfricanliteratureand the
any subject,or mustit have an African Universitycurriculum.This conference
theme? Should it embrace the whole produced a tentativedefinitionof Af-
continent,or south of the Sahara, or rican literature,as follows: "Creative
just Black Africa?And then the ques- writingin which an Africansettingis
tion of language. Should it be in in- authenticallyhandled or to which ex-
digenousAfricanlanguagesor should it periences originatingin Africaare in-
include Arabic,English,French,Portu- tegral."We are told specificallythat
guese,Afrikaans, and so on? Conrad's Heart ofDarknessqualifiesas
In the end we gave up tryingto find Africanliterature,whileGrahamGreene's
an answer-partly, I should admit,on HeartoftheMatterfailsbecause it could
my own instigation.Perhapswe should have been set anywhereoutsideAfrica.
not have given up so easily.It seems to A numberof interesting speculations
me fromsome of thethingsI haveheard arise fromthisdefinition,which is, ad-
and read since then thatwe may have mittedly,only an interimformulation,
would want to learn if it were possible. it,becauseit cameas partof a package the curious
circumstance in
Where am I to findthetimeto learnthe deal thatincludedmanyotheritemsof
which Conrad, a
half dozen or so Nigerian languages, doubtful value,especiallytheatrocities
Pole, writingin
each of which can sustaina literature?I ofracialarrogance andprejudicewhich
English, could
am afraidit cannot be done. These lan- mayyetsettheworldon fire. Butletus
produce African
guageswilljust have to develop as trib- not,in rejectingtheevil,throwoutthe literature."
utariesto feedthe one centrallanguage goodwithit. API Wide World
enjoying nationwide currency.Today, Last yearI was travelingin Brazil,
forgood or ill,thatlanguageis English. meetingBrazilianwriters andartists.
A
Tomorrow it may be something else, numberof thewriters I spoketo were
although I verymuch doubt it. concernedabout the restrictions im-
Those of us who have inheritedthe posedon thembytheiruseof thePor-
Englishlanguagemay not be in a posi- tugueselanguage.I remember a poet
I recognize,of course,thatBaldwin's
problemis not exactlymine,but I feel
thattheEnglishlanguagewill be able to
carrythe weight of my Africanexpe-
rience. But it will have to be a new
English, still in full communion with
its ancestralhome, but altered to suit
its new Africansurroundings.